Which statement describes a false cognate?

Which statement describes a false cognate?

• A. A word with the same origin and same meaning as a word in another language.
• B. A word borrowed from another language that has no related meaning.
• C. A word with the same origin but different meaning.
• D. A word with different origin and different meaning.

Answer: (C)

False cognates are words that come from the same linguistic origin but have ended up with different meanings in each language. The description that matches this idea says a word has the same origin but a different meaning. That’s what makes it a false cognate: it looks related because of their shared ancestry, yet the meaning has drifted apart over time. To see why this is the best choice, think of a pair like the English word actual and the word in another language that shares the same root but now means “current” rather than “real.” They stem from the same source, but their meanings aren’t aligned. That contrast between origin and meaning is exactly what a false cognate is. In contrast, a true cognate would have both origin and meaning aligned, a loanword with no related meaning isn’t describing a cognate at all, and a word with different origin and different meaning shows no relation between the languages.

False cognates are words that come from the same linguistic origin but have ended up with different meanings in each language. The description that matches this idea says a word has the same origin but a different meaning. That’s what makes it a false cognate: it looks related because of their shared ancestry, yet the meaning has drifted apart over time.

To see why this is the best choice, think of a pair like the English word actual and the word in another language that shares the same root but now means “current” rather than “real.” They stem from the same source, but their meanings aren’t aligned. That contrast between origin and meaning is exactly what a false cognate is. In contrast, a true cognate would have both origin and meaning aligned, a loanword with no related meaning isn’t describing a cognate at all, and a word with different origin and different meaning shows no relation between the languages.